


Lady Of Many Names

by AWomanOfLetters



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cats, Crack, Dreamlike, Fluff and Crack, Goddesses, Quests
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 18:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7397836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWomanOfLetters/pseuds/AWomanOfLetters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A goddess comes to Dean in a dream, with a request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lady Of Many Names

**SPNWritingChallenge April entry - prompt: "Just pick a damn name, okay?"**

The hall was vast, stretching out into the distance in all directions. There didn't seem to be an end, or a beginning; it was as if it were the whole world.

Which, of course, didn't make any sense. For one thing, the world was round, not flat. For another...well. The world had mountains and oceans and deserts and cities and forests and rivers and...okay, it had lots of shit, none of which was here. What was here reminded Dean of a better lit version of Osiris's court. Intricately carved Egyptian pillars held up the roof at regular intervals, hazy, warm, sourceless light flooded the place, statues of men with animal heads, cat statues (and cats, dammit, he was gonna start sneezing Real Soon Now!) dotted the floor, and he was all alone.

"Hello?" Echoes bounced down the hall, getting softer and softer.

"Anyone here?" More echoes. A black cat that had been grooming its stomach stopped and peered up at him, golden eyes glowing and one hind leg sticking up In the air, forgotten. It looked ridiculous.

_Goddammit, then, some kind of idiot dream. Time to wake up._

Of course, when you're dreaming and try to wake up, it doesn't work. Dean tried squeezing his eyes shut, then re-opening them, and nothing happened. He tried jumping up and down, feeling silly while he did it. He tried whapping himself on the head. Every time, the hall remained unchanged, except that he was gathering an audience of cats. Black cats, orange tabbies, Siamese, spotted gray-and-brown, short hair, long hair, and a few particularly ugly hairless cats - they sauntered up, and settled in, eyes of various shades blinking at him. They sat, tails neatly coiled around their front paws. They sprawled on their sides, front and hind legs stretched out. They folded themselves into neat loaves, front paws tucked under.

He folded his arms, pursed his lips, and frowned at them. "All right, _someone's_ gotta be here!" Some of the closer ones took that as an invitation, and padded back and forth around his legs, purring, tails curling against him.

This was going nowhere.

"Hey! _You_! Whoever-you-are! Get your ass out here and tell me what the hell I'm doing in this place!" he shouted into the emptiness.

In the distance, he saw a person approaching. As the form got closer, he saw it was a woman in a clinging white dress. She came nearer, and he amended his mental description to include "hot". Not in the normal sense, but, damn, she was gorgeous. She had sleek black shoulder-length hair, dusky skin, a lean face, slender nose, dark eyes with lots of dark eyeliner, thin but sensuous terra-cotta lips. A golden circlet rested on her forehead; it was decorated with a golden disk resting on golden horns. She looked familiar, and he dug into his memory...ah! She looked a helluva lot like that famous bust of Nefertiti.

He narrowed his eyes at her as she drew near. She might be beautiful, but he needed his sleep, and didn't like having it hijacked by some sort of vision. Because that's what this was, a vision, if he'd ever had one, and it infuriated him. He began tapping a foot impatiently as she slowly walked closer. She stopped before him, and the cats abruptly abandoned him, some weaving around her legs instead, others blinking at her.

"You - !" He started a rant, but she held up a graceful, narrow hand to stop him.

"I am the Lady of Light and Flames, the Lady of War and Rule, Many Eyed, Many Named." Her voice was low, throaty, warm, and sent tingles chasing up and down his spine. "Known as Io Sothis, Hekate, Isis, Maia, Astarte, Leta, Hestia, Palantra, Sarkounis, Tachnepsis, All-Bounteous, Giver of Victories - "

"Lady, that's a mouthful," he interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Just pick a damn name, okay?"

Her hand dropped, and her darkened eyebrows twitched down in a slight frown. After an offended moment, she dipped her head in a nod. "You, mortal, may address me as Isis - "

"Fine, dandy, we're getting somewhere here. Okay, Isis lots-of-titles, gimme a clue as to why I'm here." He waved a hand around at the hall, the pillars, the statues, the cats.

She sniffed. "You have no sense of decorum. I am due your respect. I am _the_ Isis, _the_ goddess, _the_ mother of all - "

He snorted. "Heard _that_ one before, and she was just another monster. No offense, but my brother and I've been swimming in gods, goddesses, demigods, angels, demons, and everything under the sun for years; you're nothing new. Killed most of 'em. So what's up?"

She stiffened as he spoke. Where she had been warm before, she now seemed chilly and distant. "Very well," she snapped. "I had forgotten how Westerners ignore the pleasantries. So rude." He glared. She glared back. "I am need of assistance. There is a group of people in Nebraska - " She stumbled over the word. " - who claim to follow me, but mouth only words." She paused expectantly. He squinted in confusion. She waited.

"Um. Okay...? So why's this _my_ problem, lady?"

" _Rizil,"_ she hissed. "Rude _and_ slow. Only words...means they do not truly believe that I will take action. Therefore, they have taken action. They have made deals with the demon Set, to borrow his power to punish their enemies. This makes them, to my understanding...your prey." She bared her teeth in a thin-lipped smile. "As a Hunter."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side. So why don't you...um...smite 'em? Why _me_?"

She stiffened again, lifted her chin, looked down her nose at him. "I cannot fight Set. It is not _maat_ , it is against the natural order. But Set, being chaos, sneers at the natural order and is more than willing to corrupt my followers. In addition..." She sighed, relaxed, and suddenly seemed more natural. "Well. Not only do you descend from Cain, which is important only to Yahweh and his followers...you are a descendant of my son, Horus."

He stared at her. She looked back, her face rueful, hands laced together at her waist.

"So...what you're saying is that you're my - my - great-great-grandma, a million times removed?" He boggled at the idea. Wasn't it enough that God and his archangels were all over him and Sam? Now add another godly relationship. Ugh. "I mean - well, look at you! You don't look like _anyone's_ great-great!" The compliment pleased her; she preened and ducked her head. He snorted. "Not that it means anything, you could just be - be - fuzzing my brain or something. Anyway, what's that gotta do with it? No offense, but I don't do favors for long-lost family, _especially_ not family that only bothers to talk when they want something."

She heaved an exasperated sigh. "Descendant of my son, Horus." She stopped, as if that was supposed to mean something to him. He shrugged, perplexed. She threw her hands up. "Really! You modern clods don't know anything, do you?! My son, Horus, the only one who can fight Set. Therefore, you."

He frowned. "Hunh. Okay. That means Sammy can do it, too. Why didn't you give _him_ this vision? He's into visions." She glared at him. "Okay, okay! Me. But Sam's gonna be involved one way or another, y'know. We do it together, or we screw the world up, that's what happens." Her chewed on his lips, rubbed his hand across his chin, then shrugged again. "Okay. Fine. We'll do it. Only because we're stuck in the middle of a whole bunch of shit that we can't figure out, and it gives us something to do! But..." He pointed with a stiff finger. "One-time deal, lady. Don't think you can be dragging me into this place whenever you need a favor done!"

She dipped her head solemnly. "Very well. One time. I will not disturb you again." She leaned down, scooped a cat up to cuddle against her bosom, then turned her back and started walking away. The cats parted before her like a fluffy wave, drifting to one side or the other, then followed her. He stared after her, then a thought struck him.

"Hey! Hey, Isis! Aren't you going to tell me where to find these demon lovers?"

She turned, and smiled. "I already have." She swept away, leaving him standing, befuddled. As she grew more distant, the hall around her faded, disintegrating into a mosaic, then blowing away in transparent tatters.

Dean woke up with a start, sat straight up, and scanned his surroundings. Thank God: his room in the bunker.

"God-damned pushy goddesses!" he snarled. He dragged on clothes and stormed off to Sam's room, palming the door open and striding up to his bed.

"Yo! Sammy! Rise and shine! We've got a job!"

No matter how much Sam pushed and prodded, Dean refused to say where he had gotten the information on the coven of old Goddess worshippers who had taken to magically flaying their enemies alive. Every time he asked, Dean would growl, clench his hands into fists, stare angrily into the distance, and sneeze. Repeatedly. Once, Sam thought he saw a cloud of cat hair drifting in the sunshine pouring in through Baby's windows, but since, when he looked later, there wasn't a hair to be found, he shrugged it off.


End file.
